The V O I D wrote:Alright, I think I've reviewed the apps and am about to update the Roster; but just in case, can someone help me collect links to the newest unaccepted apps that are complete? Your help would be immensely appreciated.

Once I update the Roster, I intend to post IC as well as review the stuff for the Lore Post.

Celivaia wrote:"Today is a great day. Recently, we completed a project that will greatly help the Salarian Union in it's fight, and while I cannot divulge information about this project, I am pleased to announce that this project was no small feat, and for his dedication, work, and pure, brilliant genius, we have a special award for this Salarian. We cannot divulge the name of this operative, but we have given him a special award, the "Star of the Union," and as an added bonus, we have decided to rename this, our home planet, after him. As of this moment, you are now standing on Solus'Kesh."

The V O I D wrote:Alright, I think I've reviewed the apps and am about to update the Roster; but just in case, can someone help me collect links to the newest unaccepted apps that are complete? Your help would be immensely appreciated.

Once I update the Roster, I intend to post IC as well as review the stuff for the Lore Post.

The V O I D wrote:Alright, I think I've reviewed the apps and am about to update the Roster; but just in case, can someone help me collect links to the newest unaccepted apps that are complete? Your help would be immensely appreciated.

Once I update the Roster, I intend to post IC as well as review the stuff for the Lore Post.

Celivaia wrote:"Today is a great day. Recently, we completed a project that will greatly help the Salarian Union in it's fight, and while I cannot divulge information about this project, I am pleased to announce that this project was no small feat, and for his dedication, work, and pure, brilliant genius, we have a special award for this Salarian. We cannot divulge the name of this operative, but we have given him a special award, the "Star of the Union," and as an added bonus, we have decided to rename this, our home planet, after him. As of this moment, you are now standing on Solus'Kesh."

Bla Ary wrote:Right. So it's mostly a matter of how the empire takes the secession. My guess is like that one NS issue? "What? Where is that? Why should I care?"

Vote for king Aerion! He'll never care about anything.

two years later at a meeting of the surviving nobility in the ruins of the capital

"I know we all agreed on a platform of 'anybody beside Carnifex' but I think that he might not have been so bad an option considering Aerion legalized beheading all nobles besides him, rioting, and terrorism, on the same day."

Celivaia wrote:"Today is a great day. Recently, we completed a project that will greatly help the Salarian Union in it's fight, and while I cannot divulge information about this project, I am pleased to announce that this project was no small feat, and for his dedication, work, and pure, brilliant genius, we have a special award for this Salarian. We cannot divulge the name of this operative, but we have given him a special award, the "Star of the Union," and as an added bonus, we have decided to rename this, our home planet, after him. As of this moment, you are now standing on Solus'Kesh."

The forbidden library of the Terran Empire. Montesquieu had its origins laid out during Night King Drakula's reign as a base of study for all things unholy and blasphemous. Blood rituals and heretical tomes marked the beginning of Vampire Sorcery at its finest. With the study of magic barred from Lesser Vampires, who had no desire to learn magic but were still offended nonetheless, the Higher Vampires reveled in learning more powerful spells and black knowledge of the demons.

Like the Vampire Counts, Montesquieu has been described to "pompous in its design, flaunting its decor and the wealth of the Vampire Counts". What originally looked like a three story building turned into a tower of twelve floors. Some levels were dedicated to rituals or laboratories while the basement was a fully fledged torture chamber and prison cell.

Despite the anti-vampire propaganda of the Terran Empire, Montesquieu was a center of learning and etiquette of Vampire Count culture. Indeed, it was the only place that pride itself free of intrigue and political assassinations. But despite all of this, the Night Kings and the rest of the Higher Vampires viciously sought to wield the power of the darkness for their own nefarious gains.

Those dreams, however, died when Ravyrnyra was integrated into the Terran Empire and the Vampire Counts purged. The Deathwatch Knights and other Blood Knights quickly arrived at Montesquieu to perform a sweeping search of any Higher Vampire in hiding. For the first time, a Lesser Vampire has stepped foot inside the library.

No one was found and Montesquieu was placed under guard from the Lesser Vampires. They were quite eager into converting this into a center of educating for Blood Knights but the Imperial church were adamant in its destruction. Currently, Montesquieu is in a state of slow disrepair as Lesser Vampires guard it day and night with rumors growing in Ravyrnyra that the Vampire Counts had studied mathematics, astrology, engineering, history and non-heretical teachings of magic.

To a secular scholar or mage, such secrets that could benefit the Terran Empire is a tragedy that could not be ignored. The general curiosity of what the Vampire Counts were hoping to achieve with astrology or history drove a few adventurous learners to its front doors only to be driven away by the guarding Blood Knights, who quite frankly cannot comprehend the importance of astrology. Whatever is hiding in the dusty old books are secrets waiting to be discovered.

The World Capitalist Confederation wrote:Inb4 The Enlightenment happens early as a result of our secession and liberalism begins to take hold. Or the Renaissance does. Whichever one is better as a label.

The V O I D wrote:I have posted ICly. I have a feeling that - no matter who wins the Throne - there's gonna be interesting times ahead for the Terran Empire.

Tbh, I think Draconia-Sterpol should be counted as a major house, as they used to rule an entire Empire. They might be weak now (Thanks to Liecsturn III and IV) but they're still well-known and influential.

Barratistan wrote:To my shame I will ofc get late into the party ICly hehe, Lord-Regent attending matters of state while everyone else was having a party; not good developments either. I swear I didn't had them planned

>When you're right in the city and you still arrive later than a person from the other side of the continent

"Do you ever wonder what lies beyond the sunset? Well, if you were to ask an Common Terran, they would answer you desert, or nothing at all. They are wrong."

It is of knowledge to any person worth their time that going to the far-western regions on land is no easy feat. First, the week-long passage through the Xarai Desert, whose dangerous, ever-changing dunes have claimed the lives of many travelers who did not know the correct trails. Furthermore, even in the most trusted "roads", the looming shadows of banditry from native nomads makes any crossing sure to be dangerous. Safety from such perilous threats will be assured only when you arrive in the Sentinel's Gate , at the feet of the Scartenian mountains, a great chain cutting through the continent working as a natural defense for Aurinia, be it from foreign invaders or from the unlivable conditions of the desert.

However, those who manage to overcome these hardships will find themselves in a beautiful land, with more grand cities reaching into the horizon than eyes could see and riches capable of putting to shame even the most wild dreams and making even the most experienced merchant lose their breath and weep with joy. Their markets, filled to the brim with the most exotic products from all of Gaia, with some being said to surpass even those of the imperial capital on some days, with beings of nearly every possible origin and species being easily found within the busy streets of the many trade hubs present in this land, for save from a few exceptions, Aurinia was a land where wealth and power mattered more than your race.

Yes, the people who live there are of an odd type. Their culture is extremely distinct from the others nearby it, caused mostly by the relative isolation from other political figures, the only foreigners present being the traders and merchants who managed to make it through the many dangers to arrive there. One of the many, many differences would be the drastically different religion practiced by Aurinians. As opposed to their few neighbors, who worshiped the Imperial Throne, the people of Aurinia instead follow an sect which venerates their own version of Gaia, whom they call "Kharazi", and nearly all of the Angeli, whom they call Xarakh. This "sect" developed itself due to the isolated nature of these people, who for so long had nearly no outside contact at all.

Yet at the jewel of this crown, built by the coast of the Ivory Sea & cut in half by the Sage's River, laid Karathia, an city so large it was said that one could spend an entire day walking from one of it's end to another and they would not see it's end. It's markets, large and rich, were expected to contain thousands of merchants and traders everyday, with items that nowhere else could be found. The Majority of such items arrived either from the Harbor Of Gallerius, an large port located at the western extremity of the Aurinian capital. Safekeeping all of this were the Fabled Zarakhian Walls, The sixty-meters tall brick "barricades" who encircled the city, giving it unparalleled protection from hostile armies.

But the most impressive act in this land, the most breath-taking one is the Palace Of Dusk, the centuries-old home of the governors of this land. Standing proud at the northern part of Karathia, it is without a doubt one of the most beautiful, complex "Castles" on the entirety of Gaia, with it's highest point reaching an impressive altitude of three-hundred meters. It's rooms are so numerous that one could not possibly remember every single one of them without wasting several paper scrolls. The Palace Of Dusk is truly, without doubt, An great architectural achievement for Aurinians and humanity in a whole.

Now, you might ask, what is the reason to such wealth? How did such secluded part of the world became a hub for trade? The answer to this question is within the tale of this land and of it's people. It all started a long, long time ago...

The History Of Aurinia

It was around the 350th Century (Before Terra) when the island who would one day constitute Aurinia emerged from Gaia, a rather large island who had risen to the sea after the ever-shifting continents caused it to erode away from the mainland, prompting it to slowly float away, colliding on it's way with more and more island arcs, adding them to it's growing mass. A few centuries after, the mountainous island finally found it's place, resting on one of the many oceans of the planet. And so like that it continued, devoid of life for several thousand years, as no being could live on that unstable rock, always smoldering with it's heavy volcanic activity and lack of vegetation.

Yet, as time went on, more and more volcanoes fell out of activity, and more and more life advanced deep into the continent, spreading through it's many rivers, plants of all types growing in absurd rates, covering everything where it could reach. As the last volcano went out of activity, the island who would one day become Aurinia had at last found peace, and with it arrived the next step in evolution: animal life. Crawling out of the sand came an race of reptilians known scientifically as Lacertilia Qaueniensis, and albeit not sapient, they spread quickly, devouring insects and plants alike. But they were not lonely for long, as soon arrived the god's chosen race: Humanity. The story of how this group of humans came to such desolate island deserves an post of it's own, but for now, let us simply say they were forcibly driven into this condition.

The humans were quick to claim the island for it's own, building settlements among the rivers and mountains alike, with village after village popping up in the Ulmarian Continent, caused all by the extremely fertile lands who followed the many estuaries who there existed, allowing for easier agriculture, enabling for populational growth to rise to new levels. As more and more humans permanently settled in, the culture of said settlements began to diverge, as tribes were formed one after the other, with their own niches and traditions varying heavily on their position. It was said that, after a few centuries, while they all came from the same group, the northern mountain-dwelling Ravii would appear alien to the western riverside-inhabiting Natarii.

It was several millennia until any lasting change happened, as the Daemonic cults which happened to cause so much trouble worldwide arrived on the island, as one of the largest tribes of Ulmar, the nomadic war-like Jattari, began to become corrupted, slowly turning into followers of Daemos, the God of Darkness. It was no surprise that, considering the heavy anti-Daemonic sentiment that had been so encouraged by the gods, that soon enough the first major war in the history of the landmass broke out, as the forces of those who worshiped Kharazi clashed with the Jattari Tribe and their followers, resulting in a bloody hundred-year long conflict, claiming the lives of many and bringing an countless number of tribes to extinction as the Daemonic Hordes ravaged through the continent. The war finally ended when an coalition led by an unknown Ravii Chieftain finally defeated the Cultist Host in Battle, later hunting down every single one of them without mercy. Forever the word "Jattari" would be known as a symbol of death and destruction,turning into the common umbrella term for all of those who followed the Daemonic Cults

With the war finally over, peace ultimately returned to the continent, who was now free of dark influence, as any chance that existed of further Daemonic Cults rising again was squashed swiftly. This, in return, allowed the human tribes to conclusively organize in more complex forms, resulting in the founding of the first Ulmarian civilization, known as the Karamanai by the Sage King Appius. Shortly after, an myriad of other cities began to appear as kingdoms were founded by the many tribes of the lonely continent, permitting technology to greatly advance. It was also at this period that the people of this land discovered their love for trade, as commerce between the civilizations boomed, leading to more intricate, extensive relationships between the many cultures of Ulmar.

But like all things, there was always an darker side of the coin. With the entirety of the continent covered by different states and cultures, war became necessary when wishing to expand your realm. And so, began the bloodiest era of the secluded landmass, as throughout the entirety of the Third Millennium (Before Terra) war after war was fought over resources and trade routes, in an period which would be later branded as the "Age Of The Twenty Kings". It was not until the final century of the epoch that a clear victor appeared, when one of the many descendants of Appius, The First Lord, rose to power. The man in question, Gallerius, was without doubt worth of the legends that are sung about him, as, through his command, the Karamanai fought their way into becoming the dominant power. Sadly, just as it appeared unification was at an arm's length, greater events in Gaia unveiled themselves, effecting the entire world. For, in the year 2.000 Before Terra, the Goddess Kharazi herself brought together the many continents, as the first Terran Crusade Began.

Through the following thousand years, against what one would think, Ulmar was mostly left alone, as Daemonic Influence had been mostly nonexistent for the last millennia in the continent, resulting in it being mostly ignored by the crusaders, who would have had no interest in dealing with a Daemon-Free Land. But this neutrality would inevitably end, as together with the crusading armies came foreign Hegemony. Tales say that as the last enemy citadel was besieged by the Karamanai forces, they finally arrived, marching through the Scartenian mountains. An army unlike any other before, in unthinkable numbers. It had been House Regine, the rulers of the Terran Empire, who had come to subjugate the continent. The war that followed was vicious and barbaric, albeit fast. Even then, whilst the legions of the Regulux were by far in greater number, with it's allies and vassals bolstering even more their strength, the resistance from the Ulmarians was nothing short of impressive. But the tide of fate had already been decided by the gods, and in the end, Karamanai and the few remaining kingdoms around it fell.

Even so, the rule of the Karamanai was yet to end, for, since Gaia had united all the continents into one, Ulmar became in a precarious position. Between them and the more directly controlled imperial mainland laid the Xarai Desert, an great patch of desolate territory, a true no man's land where only the toughest of nomads lived, with the exception of the few oasis towns. This distance made it so that any awnser to events, such as revolts, would take a large deal of effort to quell, as the time needed for supplies or reinforcements to arrive would be simply abysmal. And so, in an effort to stop the chance of rebellion it was decided that the Karaman Kingdom would remain as the local governors, being forced to send yearly tribute to the throne.

Finally, it was around that time that an great discovery was made- gold. Tonnes and tonnes of it, in amounts so grand that some feared their introduction to the market would cause an rise in inflation. More than that, substantial amounts of metal deposits were found in the old continent's land, with many being located in the Scartenian mountains. It was now clear that the gods did not abandon them after all! Monumental mining operations soon started, riches pouring in to the Karamanai coffers. Such riches were used wisely, with reforms taking place to take the backwater sub-continent to new height and power, attracting in it's way hordes upon hordes of travellers and merchants who decided the dangers of the desert were a risk more than worth taking to acquire even an particle of such wealth. And like that, Ulmar became Aurinia, the Land of Gold and Metal.

The World Capitalist Confederation wrote:Let's meet IC at the party, shall we? My personal deal is currently I get the Draconian Empire at peak size (with a cherry on top) and you get the rest.

There's no Night King. So you ain't talking to no Lesser Vampire of any high status at the capital.

Also, you arrived pretty darn fast to the party. You're going to be the talk of the town with that new army.

I don't care who the hell you are, only about what you can do. I am the Emperor of a dead Empire, the King of a dead Kingdom, the Duke of a Failing State and the Slave of my ancestors. Do I look like I'm one to judge about identity? I will become like my great grandfather - Immortal, powerful, indomitable. My father and my grandfather were both weak and crippled. They sat around the palace all day, more lazy than even Erbatz II, who I may remind you, died of a bloated stomach and a failed surgery. I am here to bring back the Empire, and I will do it until I die. There is no greater failure of a man than a failure to fight for his freedom; for his power. I have an army, and I was a general. What makes you think I couldn't be an Emperor?